By Orin
DavidsonAugust 7th, 2008
One of the biggest success stories from the Eastern American Cricket
Association League (EACA) has been and continues to be Richmond Hill
cricket club.

Richmond
Hill skipper Tamesh Balwant.

They seem to have
mastered the blue print for success that has withstood the test of
time despite player personnel changes and management officials too.

Last Sunday, the
team comprising primarily players from the East Bank of Demerara in
Guyana, notched their fourth overall title win, including one regular
season triumph, in the last eight years, in the EACA, when they brushed
aside Bayshore Tigers by seven wickets in their final game.

Under the captaincy
of the talented Shameer “Joey” Sadloo, they carted off
the hattrick of titles, winning successively from 2002 to 2004.

New skipper Tamesh
Balwant has led from the front this year, scoring heavily to carry
Richmond Hill to title number four to build an incomparable record
in the League that has produced the best cricketers in Queens, borough.

And if you include
the two championships Richmond Hill took home in the Commonwealth
League, before the hattrick, it makes for a sweet success story for
the boys from the East Bank.

With 52 points
this year, Richmond Hill edged the formidable Everest ACS who came
close with 50 for second place with East Bank finishing a distant
third with 42 points.

Both teams ended
with 11 wins but the big difference was the one loss Everest ACS suffered
at the hands of Richmond Hill, which eventually decided the championship.

Richmond Hill
had one game washed out.

It is their first
win of the regular season type, this year when they will have the
opportunity to cart off the double with the Big Four crown at stake
from this weekend.

Balwant scored
a team topping 281 runs, but the most valuable performance came from
talented allrounder Zaheer Saffie who notched 219 runs and bagged
16 wickets with his off spin.

Mustaq Yusuf also
came good with 238 runs, but Balwant stressed that team work was the
key to their triumph this year.

“We played
like friends, everybody put in a good effort,” Balwant explained.
“It is a young team too and we had a lot of all-rounders, like
seven bowlers”.

He said it was
the same team from last year when they failed to make the Big Four
playoffs, but “we were more together this year”, the captain
explained.

Given their confidence
Richmond Hill will be fancying their chances of winning their first
Big Four crown that would give them a deserved golden double. Orin
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